The Economic Development and Technology Committee (Edtech) has expressed support for the proposal to resume remote public comments in the meetings of the City Council and its subordinate bodies.
The City Council and its subordinate bodies resumed in-person meetings on Jan. 9., two years after working virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now that the meeting is held in-person, members of the public who want to participate must be present at the chamber if they want their comments to be heard. Those who cannot attend the in-person meeting can still send their comments through written correspondence.
During the meeting of the Edtech Committee, Department of Information Technology (DoIT) Chief Information Officer Phillip Leclair reported that the number of public commenters at City Council meetings declined in January after the meetings returned to in-person.
Data presented by the department provided that there are only 31 public commenters in January. This is lower compared to the number of speakers in August, which is 91 and the number of speakers in September, which is 79.
Leclair said bringing back remote public comment at City Council meetings within the council chamber would cost $250,000 annually.
Allowing remote public comments for the bodies meeting in the chamber will cost $300,000 annually while allowing remote public comments for all bodies from multiple locations will cost $700,000 annually, plus $200,000 for one-time technology upgrades including added capabilities such as virtual meeting software licenses, live language translation, closed captioning; and staff resources such as two DoIT technicians, two City Clerk staff and contract sound engineer.
Of these options, the DoIT has recommended to the Edtech committee the second option, which would allow remote public comments for the bodies meeting in the chamber.
Leclair said limiting remote public comments to the bodies meeting in the chamber would minimize technology investment costs and support costs.
There are eight committees to date that regularly meet at the chamber. But the DoIT has recommended allowing remote public comments for those bodies that have “active public comment” including the City Council, Municipal Services Committee, Public Safety Committee, Planning Commission, Design Commission and Community Police Oversight Committee.
“Staff are recommending that these first six be turned on, more or less, to allow remote public comments because these have active public comment that’s happening typically on every session,” Leclair said.
“On occasion, we’ve already done this before – if there are other meetings of other legislative bodies, they can be scheduled in the Council Chamber. If it is something that is very important with the community then we can work with the City Clerk’s Office and that body to schedule that meeting here in the Council chamber so we have access to all the technology and allow remote public comment to take place.”
At the meeting, Edtech expressed support for the staff proposal. However it recommended that the remote public comments be turned on for meetings of all City Council committees.
It is unclear when the remote public comments will resume but Leclair said once approved by the City Council, the department will need to prepare for the transition by the end of February to the beginning of March.
“We need a little bit of time to get ready to put this back into place,” he said.
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